


There She Goes

by BuffyWoodhouse



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst and Humor, Best Friends, F/F, Humor, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Romance, Underage Drinking, Underage Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 18:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4798634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuffyWoodhouse/pseuds/BuffyWoodhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Falling in love with your best friend in high school is kind of cliche isn't it? Yeah, you don't have to tell Faith Lehane that. But that was her life, wasn't it? One embarrassing cliche after another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Faith The Freshman

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovely readers!
> 
> This is my first fuffy fanfiction and my first High School AU. I've used a lot of HS/AU tropes so get ready. Any mistakes are mine (if you see any and would like to tell me, that would be very kind.)
> 
> Warnings: Swearing, underage drinking and underage kissing (no sexually explicit content) but I rated it mature for these things.

**Part One**

The first day of high school was nigh. Faith dragged herself out of bed, her sleep pattern completely out of whack from the long summer of falling asleep at six am rather than waking up _for_ it. It took her until half seven to roll over but it was alright. She still had time. Or at least… she’d have to make it.

She made her way down stairs in a less than graceful fashion and was met with the rumblings of her dad’s drunken snoring from the couch. The TV illuminated the front room and she could just about hear the murmur of the teleshopping channel as she moved into the kitchen to scout something for breakfast. She came up empty other than a box of Weetabix and the tail end of the milk.

She wandered back into the living room (chewing loudly on her cereal) to observe her father in his most natural state from across the room. She spotted the half empty bottle of vodka on the coffee table. _A little Dutch courage wouldn’t go amiss;_ she figured as she swooped up the bottle, turned the cap and lifted it to her lips for a large swig. She took back the equivalent of four large gulps and finally gave into the compulsion to shudder. She felt her stomach churn and thought she was gonna start retching and wake up her dad. Being the genius that she was, she grabbed a glass of water and headed back upstairs to get changed. That would fix her nerves until she got _to_ the school at least.

She arrived at the prison, ahem, _school_ an hour later. Her phone buzzed in her pocket with a text from Buffy saying to meet her by the “big tree” in front of the school. Faith looked up to find _two_ big trees. Only one of them, however, had a tiny blonde in a white flowing top and blue denim shorts looking around expectantly underneath it. She saw the smile erupt on her face as she spotted her walking towards her and her heart skipped a beat.

“There you are! I thought you were gonna be late. We said eight thirty!”

“It’s eight thirty five, B, chill.” Faith chuckled and pulled her best friend into a hug. Her nose was assaulted with the sweet smell of her shampoo. She’d used the strawberries and cream that day.

The day was a series of orientations and team building exercises. Faith yawned throughout the whole thing having only had four hours sleep. Despite not learning anything other than where the John was, she also learnt you shouldn’t drink vodka first thing in the morning because it makes your eyes hurt… or maybe that was the tiredness. She was beyond caring by the second bell. The whole thing was a drag regardless.

When she got home she found the living room polished and tidied. There was also a smell of air freshener to cover up the smell of cigarette smoke. She smiled realising Grammy had worked her magic. Her parents were nowhere in sight and it was only Grammy at the stove when walked into the kitchen. She gave her a kiss on the cheek and she started asking questions about her day. Faith gave some vague answers. It was school. It was just the same as middle school only more exhausting, more difficult and more important to the rest of her life. She didn’t like talking about it.

She spotted the bottle of vodka on the kitchen side and her eyes narrowed. Normally Grammy hid those on her clean ups. Faith decided to slip away from what may have been an ambush when Grammy called her back from the door.

“Faith!” She called sweetly.

“Yeah, Grammy?” Faith pulled a face involuntarily. She composed herself and turned around slowly.

“Do you know why there’s about an inch and a half less vodka in this bottle than when I went to sleep last night?”

“Dad drank it?” Faith offered. She knew Grammy wouldn’t buy it… thought it was a fairly reasonable explanation. _Why won’t she buy it?_

“No. George was asleep when I went to bed and he continued to be asleep when I came downstairs this morning for my walk at seven.”

Faith gulped.

“Then, when I returned at eight, he was still asleep… only this bottle was magically depleted of its contents.” She didn’t have to make any direct accusations; Faith knew where she was going.

“Sorry, Grammy.” Faith mumbled not wanting to get into it with her. She knew from experience the more she lied the more trouble she’d get in.

“For what?” she pushed.

“For drinking.” Faith added. She was fidgeting now. She hated disappointing Grammy. She got sent upstairs to clean up for dinner with a tone that told her she was forgiven but it was not forgotten.

She did as she was told and scooted up the stairs to hide. She knew that meant Grammy was going to hide it from now on. Faith hadn’t thought she would _measure_ the damn bottle. Was she honestly surprised, though? No. Grammy had a keen eye. Nothing got past her.

It was lucky she enjoyed her dinners with Grammy. Normally, her mom worked late so she didn’t cook, not that she knew _how_ but she thought maybe she’d try if she had the time. Her dad was in and out. Sometimes he’d be there, sometimes he’d be at a bar, sometimes at whatever work he had, sometimes she wouldn’t know. He had a habit of disappearing off the face of the Earth for anything for a few days to eight months. Right then she wasn’t sure where he was but she assumed he’d come back dragging his feet soon. Her dinners with Grammy were her favourite part of the day because they felt very normal, very homely.

**Part Two**

The following Monday, she and B were in the cafeteria eating lunch and chatting… well at least Buffy was. The subject matter wasn’t really doing it for her and she got momentarily distracted by whatever it was that some kid was doing on the other side of the hall…

“FAITH!” Buffy snapped trying to get her attention. Faith looked back at her panicked at the sudden interruption to her mental wanderings.

“Huh?” was her minimal reply. She’d been pushing her food around on her plate for the last 10 minutes. Buffy’s lips were pursed into a cute little pout and Faith softened.

“Where did you go? I was asking you about Saturday!” Buffy frowned.

“Oh… Saturday,” she groaned, “I don’t know… It’s not really my thing, B.”

She was talking about a barbecue at Harmony Kendall’s that she’d been invited to by some girl in her biology class… _Amy something_. The whole thing was weird because Cordelia Chase and her posse (of which Harmony was central) had been nothing but assholes to them since the start of middle school. Cordelia Chase would rather eat her own soiled tampon than socialise with her and Buffy. If one or both of them showed up it was bound to be a crapfest.

B looked at her desperately. “I don’t wanna be on the sidelines all throughout high school.”

“Since when do you care about Kendall and Cordelia? And what’s wrong with how we are now? Who needs to be popular? It’s just something that pathetic, insecure _morons_ need to feel like they’re worth something.” Faith snapped. She didn’t mean to but she’d just felt _the tug_.

“I don’t care about Harmony _or_ Cordelia… but maybe for once I’d like to meet new people.” Buffy said and Faith felt it harder.

“Right. Well fine. You go then.” She muttered, stabbing something questionable on her plate. “I’ll just stay home and watch reruns of _The Golden Girls_ with Grammy. Maybe even pumice her feet.”

“Ew, Faith, gross.” Buffy winced, scrunching up her nose in distaste.

“Ain’t I just?” Faith smirked at her friend. She supposed that was the start of it.

The next day Buffy drags some redhead to lunch with her.

“This is Willow!” she grins. “Willow, this is Faith.” Buffy gestured to Faith’s startled form on the chair. _Willow_ looked rather uncomfortable upon seeing her. This pleased Faith. She knew a lot of the other girls didn’t like her and whispered behind her back. She was snappy, rude, kind of butch, she’d been called a _dyke_ a lot since she’d started high school. It wasn’t necessarily _untrue_ but she didn’t plan to make it public knowledge. That being said she kind of enjoyed the confrontation. _B?_ Not so much.

It was really fucking transparent how she was edging towards new people to be seen as less of a _twosome_. Their closeness created speculation and Buffy had already cried her eyes out in the bathroom when some sophomore had asked how Faith’s pussy tasted. Faith had laughed but apparently Buffy didn’t see the funny side. Faith was frightened Buffy wasn’t going to be able to hold out and stay friends with her. What if she saw her as a liability? What if shewas actually grossed out by her?

Urgh, anyway, here was Willow, a little red headed nerd type with dead straight hair in pig tails, a questionable jumper with a kitten on it and knee high socks. Faith hadn’t known that they even _made ‘em_ like that anymore.

The tentatively shy girl sat down next to Buffy and Faith eyed her with disdain. Why was _she_ closest to Buffy? Normally she sat _next to her._ She realised she wasn’t being particularly welcoming so she shifted the game. She sat up and started joining in the conversation. This was in part because she didn’t want to be excluded but also because B was shooting daggers at her with her eyes and what the lady wants, y’know?

Fortunately for Buffy, Faith and all within a ten mile radius, Buffy didn’t go to Harmony’s that Saturday. Amy called to cancel and without her Buffy didn’t have the nerve to go. She admitted she was kind of relieved. Instead, she and Faith went to the park and ate a picnic lunch Mrs Summers had made up for them. While Buffy was kind of down about it, Faith was able to swing her back and lift her spirits.

**Part Three _  
_**

The _real_ disruption came two weeks later. Buffy came out of gym class full of the joys of spring and Faith couldn’t help but laugh as she bounded over in her tiny red shorts and yellow t-shirt.

“Guess what!” she greeted.

“What?” Faith smiled and took her hand. She led her over to the corner. B was skipping with excitement.

“The coach wants me to try out for the Freshman squad!” She squealed. “She said I’ve got natural rhythm and advanced gymnastics skills! Isn’t this great!”

“Squad?” Faith asked slowly, a little lost.

“Cheerleading, Faith!” she grinned.

“Oh, no, no, I don’t think so.” A voice interrupted before Faith could pretend to be excited.

“Fuck off, Cordelia. We were having a private conversation.” Faith glared at the other girl.

“There’s no way I’m having _her_ on _my_ squad.” Cordelia sneered.

“ _Your squad?_ ” Faith scoffed. “They haven’t even had tryouts yet.”

Cordelia didn’t say anything other than “hmm,” with a smug look on her face. She then turned on her heel and strutted away.

Faith had the overwhelming urge to grab her by the hair and smash her face into a locker but as her hands came up she felt Buffy grab her wrists and restrain them. The thing about Buffy was that she was surprisingly strong. She was a head shorter than Faith, a touch slimmer too but even she couldn’t move in Buffy’s iron grip.

“Faith,” she said sternly, “leave it.”

The commanding tone of her voice made Faith relax. Buffy didn’t assert authority often but when she did she knew she had to be going too far. She had to admit it was pretty hot when she did it. Faith momentarily found herself caught up in her close proximity and she thought for just one second that Buffy was feeling it too. The air got hotter and-

“Buffy! Faith!” _Xander._

All of Faith’s Cordelia frustrations returned to the forefront and were now targeted at this one boy. She was ready to lay into him but then she saw what was in his hands and she heaved a defeated sigh.

“Do you want one?” he held out a bag of candies for them. Buffy took one, Faith obviously took two. She decided he owed her now.

Xander was Willow’s best friend. He was kind of tall and lanky, had dark hair and strong jaw, sort of a dork. Objectively speaking he was quite cute. He was also _wild_ on Buffy. That bit she didn’t like so much.

At that point Faith heard a voice announce in her head _“Oh, shit, I’m gay!”_ but she pushed it back. It wasn’t the first time the voice had intruded on her thought patterns. She figured if she ignored it that it would shut up and go away.

“Anyway, cheerleading.” Faith prompted Buffy who shook her head.

“It was stupid. I’m not gonna get on the squad. I can’t be a cheerleader.” She shrugged, all signs of her previous enthusiasm had deflated.

“Fuck that noise.” Faith glared. “Tell her, Xander.”

“I appear to have missed the part of the conversation that was the uh… conversation.” He pointed out in that obnoxious Xander way. Faith and Buffy filled him in and he encouraged Buffy to try out. He added some piggish comments about cheerleading uniforms.

Following some insults aimed at Cordelia, Faith saw Buffy perk up again. She assured them she _would_ try out and while Faith wasn’t necessarily keen on Buffy being a _cheerleader_ she hoped she’d wipe the floor with Queen C.

That night was rough. Her dad had come back after a week of no contact and she could hear the shouting from downstairs. There was the sound of a glass smashing and she tiptoed out of bed to listen from the hall way. She was sat on the stairs for two minutes trying to work out what it was they were yelling about when she heard a gentle voice.

“What’re you doing, Faithy?”

She turned around to see her Grammy, back lit by the light from the lamp in her room like an angel. She stood there in her teddy pyjamas and fluffy dressing gown with a soft smile. Faith shrugged, not sure of what to say to her.

“Do you wanna come in here for a bit? We can watch a bit of TV?”

Faith nodded and got up slowly. She knew she wouldn’t have a sound sleep without taking her mind off it first. Grammy also kept cookies in her room in excess and this felt like a situation that called for them.

When she was a little girl, her Grammy used to do the same thing. She’d find her in the same spot every time they’d have a fight and she’d usher her in and take her mind off it. If Grammy hadn’t been there all those years she didn’t know what she would have done, but Grammy was old. She didn’t act it. At seventy seven she was one of the most active women she knew but it was creeping up on her. Losing her Grammy was by far Faith’s biggest fear… that and woodlice. Something about them just didn’t sit right with her.

**Part Four**

Buffy made the squad. Of course she did. Faith had shown up to watch try outs on the field and she’d killed it. She’d practised and practiced until her feet hurt and she was dosing off in class. Faith was satisfied because not only was Buffy ecstatic but Cordelia’s look of horror was something that Faith will remember forever.

Faith realised she was going to have to deal with the fact Buffy was a cheerleader now. She supposed it wasn’t such a terrible thing. It didn’t necessarily have to change anything, did it? Yeah, it did, but she couldn’t dwell on it right then. Sure, she felt a darkness sweep over the entire situation and a twisting in her gut but she kept that smile plastered on her face as Buffy ran up to her, borderline hysterical with excitement.

They all went back to Buffy’s place to toast her triumph with cherryade and donuts. The others made their way through to the kitchen but Faith hung back, anticipating the crashing sound of slowly-less tiny feet to come bounding down the stairs.

“Faith!” Dawn beamed. Dawn was Buffy’s eleven year old kid sister and one of Faith’s favourite reasons to go to Buffy’s house. She was somewhere between four and five feet tall and her long brown hair caught the wind as she hopped down each step in excitement to greet her and leaped into her arms.

She hugged the little mite and passed her on to Buffy who was going through the cupboards looking for stuff to eat.

“Buffy!” They heard her mom call and everyone turned to see her enter the room. The picture of class and elegance was the way Faith always pictured Joyce Summers. Always smiling, always well put together, always with banging hair. She was like a TV mom. “Oh, hello sweetie, I didn’t realise you had people over. I’m Joyce, Buffy’s mom.” She waved at Willow and Xander. “Hi, Faith.” She said with a warm smile in her direction.

“Hey, Mrs. S.” Faith greeted casually. She enjoyed being the sort of permanent fixture in amongst new comers. It made her feel more worthy.

Buffy went into telling her mom and sister all about the cheerleading trials and they both congratulated her and said they loved her and Faith tuned out right about that point. Maybe she needed to take up a sport. Maybe hockey… she liked hockey. Her dad had been good at hockey in high school. _Yeah, maybe hockey…_

“Faith?” Mrs Summers asked, expectantly.

“Um, yeah?” Faith looked up startled. She realised the others were looking at her and felt something that resembled embarrassment.

“Are you staying for dinner?”

Faith thought it over. By the looks of things _they_ were staying too. If she left that would mean she’d miss out on whatever bonding experience they were all going to have tonight.

“Sure, thanks.” Faith answered with little deliberation.

They made it up to Buffy’s room where Faith jumped onto the bed and spread out like it was her own. Buffy started talking excitedly to Willow and Xander while she sat and watched wearily from the bed. She wasn’t necessarily coping with these new additions to their group as well as she could. She also knew how possessive she was of Buffy was probably unhealthy. She mulled that other for a minute. She opted to add that to the list of things she wasn’t going to address and she was five by five.

Buffy’s mom made them pasta and she and Xander had a race to see who could finish first. Midway through the tournament she looked up to see Buffy and Willow smiling and laughing at each other and her heart stopped. She thought she’d only paused for a second but the next thing she knew, Xander was declaring his victory. It annoyed her. Faith didn’t like losing.

The evening rattled on and was excessively boring. She wished she was alone with Buffy so they could just be them again. It seemed she’d really taken having Buffy’s undivided attention for granted since they’d met four years ago. Back then she’d just moved to Sunnydale from L.A after her parents divorce. She’d spent most of middle school trying to keep to herself and that had played in with Faith’s plans pretty well. She hadn’t intended to be a social reject, but when she became Faith’s best friend she was sort of stigmatised. But it had always been _them together. Urgh._ It wasn’t even Xander that bothered her. It was Little Red with her better than thou attitude. _Yeah, we get it,_ she thought, _you’re smart and wear nerdy clothes and your parents own a big house in the nice side of town._ Willow wasn’t actually the bragging type and she hadn’t said anything about her house but Faith could guess. It made her yawn… or more accurately: tear at her own skin.

She returned home to a dimly lit house. The shouting was audible as soon as she approached the door. She stood still for a moment, contemplating if it was even worth going in to rush up to her bedroom. Once she went in she’d be trapped up there. She made the sudden decision to turn around and walk away. She wasn’t sure where she was heading but it had to be better than in there.


	2. Faith The Junior

**Part One**

High school parties were the worst. This is what Faith was to discover this fateful night. Some wannabe football player gets a free house for the weekend, calls in his older brother to supply some alcohol and they think they’re the don. The whole thing was a waste of time _but_ Buffy wanted to go.

She saw Buffy less and less these days. Since Freshman year, she’d become part of more popular circles. She still spent time with her, Willow and Xander… but it wasn’t quite the same. Faith kinda liked being on her own now. She didn’t have to justify herself to people who would hurt her. She got to stick in her earphones at lunch and disappear for an hour. It wasn’t that bad.

She was manoeuvring herself towards Buffy and Xander from the bathroom where she’d gone to take a whizz. Willow hadn’t come. The party thing wasn’t her scene, though Faith doubted how much this could be considered a party. The music was blaring from an iPod dock and there were some party rings on the table. There was limited alcohol, though fortunately Faith had brought a water bottle of miscellaneous spirits that she’d taken from various bottles in her house. It tasted like ass but it worked better than whatever it was everyone else was drinking. She was far from impressed by the whole scenario. Yet, Buffy enjoyed it. She was looking fine and every boy at the party had noticed. She was now the hot cheerleader and everyone wanted a piece of the action.

At some point, Faith decided the whole thing blew just that bit too much so she legged it out to back of the house to sit on the grass. She was sat in a damp patch from where the sprinklers had got to it but she was a bit too drunk to notice. _This probably suits me better,_ she thought as she felt the cold damp seep into the seat of her jeans.

Since she’d started high school two years ago things had only got worse for her. It was blatantly obvious that all this “best years of your life” crap only applied to the likes of Cordelia Chase. So there she was sat in a cold, damp part of nature letting her troubles sink in as the rate of the wetness in her pants.

“Why are you on your own?” a guy asked from behind. He sounded English. She looked to find a bleach blonde punk approaching her with a little stumble. She eyed him quizzically.

“Does it matter?” she shrugged. She didn't know this guy. Why did he care?

He sat down opposite her in the damp and started to pick at the grass.

“Always matters.” He mumbled. “I’m spike.” He held out his slightly dirty hand and she shook it, not really caring that it was wet from the ground.

“Faith.” She introduced herself.

“Faith." He repeated. "That's a nice name." He said, thoughtfully.

"I would say _'good, because you'll be screaming it later'_ but my heart's not really in it." She joked easily.

"That's fortunate." He said and held up his left hand for her to see. There was a ring that Faith identified as a wedding band.

“How old are you?” Faith frowned. She hadn’t pinned him as old enough to be married.

“Seventeen… well sixteen… turning seventeen in five months… but close enough.” He mumbled the last bit.

“And you’re married?” she quizzed.

“Well it ain’t legal or nothing,” he shrugged, “but we did our vows so in here I am.” He patted his chest to signify he was talking about his heart.

Faith relaxed realising Spike was just your standard type of joker _._ She wondered what his real name was. Probably something posh like _Edmund_ or _Harry._

Spike told her he needed some advice about _“shifting some gear"_. Faith couldn’t work out if he meant drugs or not. Despite his bleached hair and leather apparel, his baby face didn’t scream thug.

Fortunately the gear in question was some “dodgy DVDs.” Faith burst out laughing.

“See, I fucked up. I didn't check what I was buying... just went on the cover, right? I stuck one on for a bit of TLC and it's in  _Chinese._ Who wants to watch Harry Potter mumblin' in Mandarin for two hours? No one round 'ere. So I check the next one. It's some rom com with Cameron Diaz and it's in _French. Fight Club?_ I honestly couldn't even tell you what language that one was in. Now Liam’s gonna have my head when he finds out what I’ve done.”

“What do you propose then?”

“Fake moustaches and assumed identities going door to door.”

“Inspired. Why don’t you sell them online? International market.” Faith questioned him. He narrowed his eyes at her.

“What, on Ebay? I don’t bloody think so. Would be taken down in a minute. I don't know what else I can do. I’ve got eight boxes of dodgy DVDs in every language that's not English and a death sentence on my _bellend_ when Liam finds out.”

Faith frowned at the last bit. Perhaps she’d misinterpreted the stakes.

“Who’s Liam?” she questioned. He'd mentioned him twice now. He'd earnt her interest, she decided.

“My step-brother.” He sighed and began to slump towards the dirt. “Fucking hate ‘im. His dad made big business here so he uprooted the whole family…and that apparently included me. I wanted to stay with Dru but my mum said no.” He moaned into the ground, his cheek getting dirty. “I hate it here more than I hate the pair of _them_. He makes me do stuff or he rats me out on things. Like last month he told my mum that the reason I was up late for school all the time was because I was awake on Skype talking to Dru. Then she took my laptop away at night so now I can’t talk to her properly. We can only do text messages.” He mimed a texting action with his hand.

“He sounds like an ass.” She commented guessing Dru was the girl he was supposedly married to.

“Yeah!” Spike nodded furiously, springing to sit up. “You know where my mum found ‘is dad? _Widows’ dating._ How fucking sick is that?. What’s the tagline? _I’m not looking for the one because I found the one and now they’re dead but you’ll do_?”

Faith shifted uncomfortably not liking the turn of his mood. He quickly settled down in the dirt again.

“I just wish the last three years had never happened.” He spat. His harsh face twisted and tears started rolling down his cheeks and Faith panicked realising she may have a drunk and distressed teenage boy on her hands any upcoming second. His breakdown came in the form of sobbing himself into a state and passing out on the floor. It could have been worse but still…

“Oh, fuck!” she groaned. “Spike, get the fuck up! Spike!” She shook him but he just made noises. He hadn’t been this tanked when he’d gone over. _Why did these things have to happen to her?_

“Oh, fuck!” Someone echoed behind her. “How long has he been like that?” A very tall Irish guy asked of her, kind of frantic.

“A minute?” Faith offered and the older guy groaned.

“I told you to do one fucking thing, Will. _Don’t get too smashed._ How am I gonna explain this to ‘is mum?” he groaned and started slapping his cheek. “I’m fucked. Absolutely fucked.”

“We could throw some water on him?” Faith suggested.

“Sure, I’ll take him home unconscious, squiffy, dirty _and_ soaked through.” He glared. “Excellent plan, Watson.”

 _Watson?_ Apparently she didn’t even deserve a Sherlock. Either she was not on form with her stupid suggestions or _Liam,_ as she’d identified him, was confused. What did she know though? She wasn’t quite with it herself.

“Calm down,” Faith tried to help him but found herself nearly out for the count. “He’s just drunk.”

“Calm down?” Liam asked in disbelief. “My sixteen year old kid brother is passed out in the dirt and you want me to calm down? I’m in so much fucking shit!”

Faith recoiled and made the decision to leave them to it. She figured she’d catch Spike at school. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t seen him before, it wasn’t like he didn’t scream attention whore.

She made her way back into the party, fumbling around trying to find her tiny blonde goddess. She found her talking to a load of girls Faith was too drunk to remember the names of.

“B, I wanna go home.” She announced and grabbed her hand.

“Why? What’s the matter?” she glared, tugging her hand back.

“I’m tired.” Faith lied.

“You’re drunk!” Buffy countered. She gave apologetic looks to her friends who were eyeing up Faith in disgust. Faith could feel it. Faith didn’t care. Well, Faith did care but like hell was she gonna dwell on it.

“B, I just really want to go home. Please.” She gave her a look that told Buffy it was important and Buffy melted.

“Okay, we’re going now.” She nodded and said goodbye to her friends. Buffy took Faith’s hand and led her through the party seeking out Xander. They found him laughing at the fishes in the fish tank.

“They’re so colourful and stupid!” he laughed as they dragged him off.

“Not you too!” Buffy cringed.

Buffy’s aim was now was to get everyone back to Xander’s in one piece and Faith just went along with it. Buffy was pulling her by her hand and she’d kind of forgot about Spike until she saw him propped up against a car as they passed them in the drive. Liam was tapping his face, trying to get him to perk up. In his other hand was a clear plastic cup of water which he was trying to get Spike to drink from. She just about managed to see Spike projectile vomit all over his step-brother and Faith hollered at him. He didn’t hear her though. She would never forget the look of horror on Spike’s face in that moment when he’d realised what he’d done. She heard Liam screaming at him but didn’t get to see the end result as Buffy was tugging her off in the direction of Xander’s house.

When they got in they just about managed to get their pyjamas on. Faith and Xander decided to swap though you couldn’t really tell. The legs on Faith’s sort of rode up on Xander’s legs but it wouldn’t have been as noticeable as if he’d tried to squeeze into Buffy’s yummy sushi pyjamas.

“Ladies! Come ‘n’ bring it home.” Xander opened his arms to them to climb under. Faith was the only one to greet his embrace enthusiastically though admittedly briefly.

“Hey, dude. Is that a new fragrance?” Faith coughed and covered her nose.

“Why yes, it’s something I can’t remember.” He responded with a giggle.

“Whiskey. It is whiskey.” Buffy said in disgust and stared at the bed. “Xander you’re meant to be on the mattress!”

“No way! I didn’t know they had whiskey.” Faith complained.

“Xander!” Buffy repeated, her irritation evident at being ignored.

“They didn’t, but I do!” Xander went to reach under his bed but Buffy clambered over and punched his chest before he could retrieve the bottle.

“No more tonight. Go to sleep.” She commanded.

“Yes, mommy.” They said in unison.

Xander rolled over and hit the deck, missing the mattress on the floor. Faith had to assume that he made it there eventually because he was tucked up soundly when she woke up the next morning.

**Part Two**

She saw Spike at school the following Monday looking a little nervous.

“Hey, man.” She greeted, leaning against his locker. “How was the rest of your night?”

Spike looked away, embarrassed.

“Uneventful.” He shrugged casually.

“Uneventful as in you passed out in the dirt? Or uneventful as in you threw up all over Liam in front of his friends and humiliated both him and yourself?” she asked smugly.

“Oh God, you know you about that?” His eyes bugged.

“Saw it with my own two eyes.” She confirmed.

Spike banged his head against the locker.

“There’s also a Vine.” She added.

His eyes bugged again, this time accompanied by a slack jaw. She waited a few seconds.

“I’m kidding, man. I think you got away with it.” She smiled.

“I made an idiot out of myself.” He whined. “I thought people didn’t like me before and now I _miss_ being ignored.”

“How long have you been here?” she asked him.

“Uh, well I got here at about quarter to nine-”

“Not today, moron!” she interrupted him with a sigh. “In this country. This state.”

“Oh. Since the start of the year.” He shrugged.

“How come I haven’t seen you around? You’re not exactly hard to miss.” She commented.

He pointed to his bleach blonde hair with a sheepish smile.

“New.” He explained.

“Ah.”

She didn’t really care beyond that. Her capacity for conversation was quickly drying up. The bell rang and they parted ways. She didn’t think about him again until he snuck up on her in while she was walking with her earphones in.

“FUCK!” she screamed and hit him. “Spike, what the hell?”

“I wanted to apologise!” he said and Faith gave him a blank expression in return. “For earlier, I didn’t mean to be so whiney. I don’t know why I was like that. I’m not normally like that.” He rambled.

“It’s fine.” She stated. “I hadn’t thought about it.”

A grin broke out on his face and Faith felt like she’d done something good without meaning to.

“So, are you busy tonight?” she asked him.

He shook his head.

“If you wanted, we could hang at mine. Listen to some music?” She offered. He nodded, visibly surprised.

“Sure, but no funny business.” He teased. “I’m married.”

“And I’m gay.” She said… out loud for the first time ever in fact. _Huh._

“Oh, cool.” Spike nodded albeit a little awkwardly.

“Yeah, so what did you do about those DVDs?” She changed the subject.

“That’s a funny story actually… did you know that there is a foreign language club at our school?” he started and they headed back to Faith’s house.

“Hi, mom. This is my boyfriend. We’re gonna go up to my room to screw.” She stated as soon as she walked into the house.

“Awesome.” Her mom deadpanned.

Faith grabbed Spike’s wrist and dragged his astonished ass up the stairs.

“I take it your mum doesn’t know?” he asked.

“Mmhmm. I’d rather keep it that way too. If you hear someone coming up the stairs, muss up your hair, okay?” she grinned.

“Is that why I’m here? To be your little Emma Stone?”

“Emma Stone?”

“Yeah, Emma Stone was in that film where she pretended to sleep with people to cover up stuff for them like being _gay_.” He whispered the last word so her unobservant mom didn’t hear.

“You know, normal people call them _beards_ right?” Faith rolled her eyes. “And no, that wasn’t the reason I brought you here. I thought of that on the way.” She lied. Her primary motive _had_ been to tell her mom she was dating Spike, but she honestly did want him around. Buffy had new friends now. There was no reason she couldn’t pick up any of her own.

 **Part Three** _  
_

“Oh God, he’s so hot I think I’m gonna melt.” Buffy whined.

Faith and Xander sat with a scowl on their faces while Willow perused her science magazine with a half interested expression.

“He was so cute, and funny, and _tall._ And he’s a senior!” Buffy stated with pride.

“Woah, back up there!” Xander snapped. “A senior? He does know you’re sixteen right? This is totally something he’s aware of?”

“He said I come across older than my age.” Buffy pouted.

“Guy sounds like a pedo.” Faith glared and buried her head in the pillow. He probably wasn't all that much older and people dated the grade below all the time but Faith was dying inside so she needed an outlet.

“He's like a year and a half older, tops! I did the math!” Buffy insisted. “Willow?” she turned to the redhead who was pulling a face.

“I don’t know, Buffy. I-I haven’t met him… I mean he might be nice, I don’t know.” she mumbled and looked away. She caught eye contact with Faith and shrunk under the death glare she gave her.

Faith concluded she was gonna have to rough the joker up. He was probably some loser pretty boy with no clue how to form a fist without breaking his hand.

Buffy, however, was satisfied with Willow’s answer and felt she had won. This much was obvious to Faith as she was now wearing an obnoxious, smug smirk that hit Faith in the wrong places. Not only was she annoyed at her arrogance but she was also in agony over the cause. Wanting to kiss someone and punch them in the face at the same time was hard.

She started to spend less time with Buffy and more with Spike. They started working out together in the school gym working on the punching bags. Faith spent more time hockey training too. It made for much less time spent mooning over Buffy. Spike was trying to get “ripped” to send naughty selfies to Drusilla on the internet. It made Faith shudder.

Faith _and_ Spike watched in horror as it turned out that the guy Buffy was sweet on was in fact Liam, or as the rest of the school knew him: _Angel._

“What kind of pretentious, fuck boy name is that? I think Narcissus better hand over his damn title.” Faith growled as she beat the stuffing out of a tired old punch bag. “Who calls themselves _Angel_?”

“It’s his middle name. He was his mum’s golden boy.” Spike revealed with a twitch. He clearly didn’t like talking about Liam’s mom, it made him uncomfortable.

He and Buffy started dating some time after that. Faith was not impressed. Spike was traumatised by the sounds of lip smacking that came from his room whenever she was round. Faith and Buffy drifted.

“What’s wrong with Spike?” Buffy asked during a conversation about Faith’s man prospects.

“What? Spike? Eww.” Faith scrunched up her face.

“He’s not that bad, Faith.”

It hadn’t really occurred to her until then that it was _weird_ that Buffy didn’t know she was a lesbian. Considering she was meant to be her best friend… _Spike_ had become her go to guy for unfiltered shit talking. He knew _everything,_ even all the things Faith hadn’t wanted _Buffy_ to know.

How did things get this way?

“Listen, B, there’s something I’ve gotta tell you.” Faith started, hoping to just go for it and rip the band aid off.

“Buffy!” they heard a voice call. It was Cordelia, she had a habit of showing up where she wasn’t wanted. For Faith that was every time she walked into school but in a specific sense it was whenever she had to hear her stuck up voice calling for _her_ Buffy like she was a dog.

“Coming!” Buffy yelled back. “I’m so sorry, Faith! I got practice. I’ll message you tonight, okay?” she smiled and ran off.

“Sure thing, B.” Faith muttered. “If I’m not _busy._ ” She sneered that last bit.

“Rough day?” someone addressed her. Out of the two friends Faith seemed to have those days that voice did not belong to either of them.

“Five by five.” Faith replied a little solemnly.

“See, I don’t think that’s so… going on the assumption that five by five is a good thing.” She moved closer and held out her hand. “I’m Kennedy.”

“Faith.” She replied and shook it.

“I know.” She smirked. “I’ve seen you in the gym.”

Faith raised her eyebrows in surprise. Was this a pick up? Was this her first pick up? Her first pick up with a hot girl? Okay, yeah, she _was_ hot. Let’s just make that clear. Brunette, athletic looking, confident. Faith could work with this.

“That your girlfriend?” Kennedy pointed to Buffy’s little cheerleading outfit clad ass retreating in the distance.

“No.” Faith stated. “She’s just a friend.”

“Bummer. Straight girl?”

“Yeah.” Faith mumbled, looking at Kennedy with confused awe. How’d she work all this out? They’d only just met.

“I’m good with the gay-dar.” She answered her unspoken question. “Now you,” she started to move her hand towards Faith, “ _beep, beep, beep, beep, beep!_ ”

Faith shoved her hand away playfully.

“Okay, you caught me!”

“Knew it. So what’s my prize for being so observant?”

“I don’t know, what do you want?” Faith tried to keep a straight face but the corners of her lips were tugging to form a smile and she could feel her cheeks heating up too.

“How about dinner? My treat?”

“Dinner? That’s a bit formal.” Faith commented. She didn’t really want to sit somewhere fancy. The whole institution of dating was uncomfortable for her.

“Oh no, this place really isn’t formal. I’m talking beef burgers with sauce and cheese and a plate of fries as large as your head. You’ll cum just looking at it.”

“Okay, I’m in.” Faith said quickly, her mouth watering at the thought. The girl was also a little sexually vulgar. She felt right at home.

They walked into a kind of large building more towards the nicer part of town. The waitresses smiled at them as they walked in, or, more specifically, Kennedy.

“Hi, daddy,” she greeted an older man. “This is Faith.”

 _Daddy?_ Faith thought. _Oh._

Her father waved at her and Faith smiled back. They made pleasantries and Kennedy asked if they could have a table.

“You didn’t mention your dad worked here.” Faith commented when they sat down.

“He doesn’t, he owns it.” Kennedy said casually. Something about her arrogance made Faith shrink a little bit. She thought the whole scenario was bizarre. She’d met this girl an hour ago and now they were sat down for dinner at her father’s restaurant. There was this unignorable feeling in Faith’s gut that told her Kennedy was trying to buy her. There was also a rumble in her stomach that told her to not think about it too much.

Faith wasn’t quite sure to carry on the conversation but Kennedy managed it. She started talking about her soccer championships and Faith sat and listened.

She was a Sophomore (so a year younger), she’d been to Spain, France and Jamaica all that year, she had a dog named Macy and she did ballet for two years under sufferance before finally being allowed to join the soccer team.

She talked a lot, that was certainly something else Faith could say she’d learnt about her in the short time they’d been in each other’s company.

She was cool, yeah, but Faith had this overwhelming need to impress her. She wasn’t honest about a lot of things. Kennedy had built herself up as the daughter of some big successful business man and Faith was envious of that. She felt her initial feelings of excitement melt away. She didn’t necessarily not _like_ Kennedy but if it were an online chat room she’d have logged out by now.

The food was definitely swung it though.

“Jesus!” Faith moaned. “This is damn good!”

Kennedy smirked.

“Of course, it’s the best grub in town.” She boasted.

Faith had checked the prices when she’d picked out her meal, she could confirm it was also the priciest. No wonder she’d never been. It was one of those fifteen dollars for a burger joints. She’d never paid more than four bucks for a burger in her life. She had to admit, though, this was some of the best food she’d ever had. Better than Grammy’s beef stew in fact.

She was busy licking the barbecue sauce off her fingers when she noticed Kennedy looking at her strangely. Faith looked away a bit embarrassed. She placed her hands down on the table awkwardly and began fiddling with a napkin.

“So…” Faith looked around searching for something to talk about but came up empty.

“You’re on the hockey team.” Kennedy stated. “That’s hot.”

“Yeah?” Faith bit her lip. She liked that. Most people had told her that hockey wasn’t really a girls sport. Her mom’s only response when she’d been told was that she’d break her nose and never get a date to prom. Kennedy thought it was _hot._

She went into telling her about it; the girls, the regime, the games they had played. Kennedy listened intently. Faith liked the attention. It was cool. She got to pretend that she wasn’t a massive loser. Buffy knew that she was a dork and Spike got the 101 on literally everything. Kennedy was looking up to her.

They walked out together at about eight. Faith needed to get home or Grammy would be worried. She’d sent her a text but she wasn’t sure she would be able to work her phone.

“Thanks for coming with me tonight.” Kennedy said, suddenly a little shy. Faith smiled to see her front fall a little.

“Thanks for having me, man.” She shrugged. “It was really nice of you to ask.”

Kennedy leant over and placed a gentle kiss on her lips and waited for Faith’s reaction. She was startled but not unreceptive so Kennedy leant in again. This time Faith responded, surprised by the glow of pleasure she felt. So _this_ was kissing? 

Kennedy pulled back breathless and smiled.

“First kiss?” she guessed.

“Uh…” Faith mumbled. _Was I that bad?_ She thought in horror.

“Oh! No, you were fine.” She told her, knowing it all once again. “You just seemed nervous. You wanna go again?”

Faith nodded and grabbed her. This kiss was aggressive this time and Faith growled. Fuck nervous. She wasn’t having that. She felt Kennedy’s teeth tug on her lip and she moaned.

After some time they pulled back and grinned at one another.

“Look, I gotta go home. I’m gonna find one mean old lady sat up with her Horlicks if I don’t shift.”

She walked away and heard a distant “call me!” as she walked away in that classic tone. Yeah, she would probably be doing that. _  
_

**Part Four**

She’d messaged Spike about her evening when she got in. Naturally the next day he met her with a shit eating grin.

“Ooh, here she comes, woman of the night. Breaking hearts and dropping panties.” He smirked as she approached.

“It was one date and one kiss.” Faith rolled her eyes. “One very _hot_ kiss.” She added thoughtfully. Spike groaned.

“I’m suddenly very lonely.” He sighed dramatically and turned with a devilish glint in his eye. “Ooh, here she comes, the girl who sullied your virtue.”

“She did _not_ sully my-” Faith cut herself off as Kennedy approached.

“Hey,” she leered and was about to kiss her when Faith held up her hand to block her.

“We can’t do that here.” She said panicked.

Kennedy was irritated by the revelation that Faith wasn’t interested in coming out any time soon. After five minutes of cheery conversation, with an introduction to Spike, Kennedy went to class.

“ _So,_ what do you think?” Faith titled her head waiting for his approval.

“Ditch her.” He said plainly.

“ _What?_ ”

“Ditch her.” He repeated. “Total bunny boiler, you can see it in her eyes. She’s trouble. You saw how arsey she got when you said no snogging at school!”

Faith glared at him. She elected to ignore the fact he looked _fucking serious_ as shit about it even though it would have saved her a lot of hell if she hadn’t. She made her way to class a little miffed at Spike’s intrusion. He had to be jealous. He wasn’t going to get any action anytime soon, especially not when he _insisted_ that he was married all the time. What’s he gonna do when Drusilla dumps his ass for someone less whiney? There was bound to be plenty red blooded men on the same continent as her that she could get her claws into. _Hell, she could be doing that right now,_ Faith thought. That’s what always happens in a long distance relationship. She never mentioned that to Spike before because he could only think the best of his Drusilla. Faith scoffed at the whole thing. What was the actual point of being someone you could never see?

She choked on her own arrogance when she realised the mistake she’d made about two months later.

“I’m fucked.” A vacant Faith commented as she slid down the wall.

“No, no, it’s okay.” Spike bit his lip. “There’s still a chance she’ll get hit by a bus and die before she does any damage. Or… at least get amnesia.” He offered.

“She’s got everything printed out, Spike! She’s taking it to my mom.” Faith shook her head. Hot tears rolled down her face. This had started when she’d told Kennedy she wanted to break it off. Summer had rolled around and she wanted to spend _every_ day with her and Faith couldn’t deal. Spike’s distaste towards her was becoming evermore vocal, even in her presence, and Faith cared less and less about it. It was true. She was obsessive, controlling and belittling. She picked at things about her friendships, mocked her parents, and accused her of cheating on her. She wouldn’t let her see Buffy either. Buffy had been completely cut out.

Now she was sat on the floor of Spike’s bedroom, crying, looking like an idiot. Spike was even _patting her shoulder._ Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

They’d been having a joyful summer afternoon of shutting themselves away in a dark room playing video games when Faith’s phone had rung… _Kennedy._ Faith had groaned and hung up on her. She wasn’t in the mood to be pleaded with. Then she got a text:

_Thought you’d do that. On my way to your house right now xx_

Faith had rolled her eyes and said: _Not there._ Thinking that would be the end of it. Instead, she’d got another message that said:

_I know. I’m going to see your mom with screenshots of everything in a nice little folder. Have fun explaining that._

Then she’d received a picture message of her own front door.

She’d called and called but there was no answer. Kennedy had turned her phone off.

“I’m gonna fucking kill ‘er.” Spike growled. He was saying other stuff but Faith had tuned out.

“You still got that Jack Daniels?” she asked and he handed her the bottle from under the desk. It wasn’t really Jack Daniels. Just the bottle refilled with cheap booze but Spike was all about the aesthetic.

“Thanks.” She held it up to him in a toast and drank it straight from the bottle.

“Don’t backwash.” He told her before he collapsed on the bed. She offered something that resembled a nod in response.

“I can’t go home.” She said after some time. “She’s done it by now. I can’t ever go home.”

He got up and slid down the wall next to her. She passed him the bottle and he drank.

“Live here.” He offered. He paused and scrunched up his face in thought. “I don’t actually think anyone would notice if you did. I don’t think anyone’s been in here since we moved in, other than me and you, that is.” He mused and took another swig.

“Sure, they won’t notice the two plates of food you’d be ferrying up at dinner time at all.” She chuckled coldly.

“I used to have two meals for my invisible friend. I’ll just say he’s back.”

“Why am I not surprised you had an invisible friend?”

“I said he was my twin that died at birth.”

“Please stop talking.” Faith murmured as she took back another gulp of drink.

“On the upside, no one’s home,” he waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. She knew what was coming. Why did this always have to happen? “You wanna go watch Passions on the big screen downstairs?”

“You know I _hate_ Passions.” Faith scowled. “This is meant to be _my_ crisis day.”

There was a moment of silence.

“We could watch Mean Girls and not tell anyone about it?” He suggested.

Faith thought it over.

“Okay.” She started to get up. “But bring the bottle.”

She could sense Spike shake his head behind her but knew he wouldn’t disobey. He was handy like that.

The afternoon was cool if she ignored the somersaults her stomach was doing. Spike’s place had air-con so it was like an igloo in there. Spike got them Coke and ice from the kitchen and with the quality entertainment she almost forgot she was probably homeless.

Her phone was sat on the coffee table but it never buzzed or lit up. It sat there taunting her for the afternoon but she refused to put it away. She thought her mom might have called by now.

She had her feet propped up on Spike’s lap to annoy him but he seemed to have lost the capacity to complain. He kept looking at her with his sad face. She hated that sad face. It was dopey and awkward and made her feel guilt, even if she hadn’t caused it. Besides that, she hated pity; especially pity from _Spike._ Nothing quite said ‘reached a new low’ than having Spike look at you with sympathy.

At about quarter past four, they heard the front door open followed by the sound of voices.

“Sounds like the lovebirds are here.” Spike sighed. “Do you want me to get rid of her?”

 _Her,_ not _them,_ she noticed. She knew he meant Buffy was here. She didn’t know what she would say to her if she saw her. She knew she couldn’t act normal, not after the day she’d had. She kind of wanted her though so she shook her head.

Buffy and Angel walked around the corner into the entertainment room and caught sight of the pair of them on the couch. Buffy smiled and waved, Angel nodded. Spike rolled off the couch and followed Angel into the kitchen, she’d be damned if she knew what _that_ was about.

Buffy walked over to the couch and sat near her. They hadn’t spoken in about a week. They weren’t avoiding each other exactly; they just didn’t cross paths anymore. She hadn’t physically _seen_ Buffy in nearly two and a half weeks, in fact. It was weird but not entirely unpredictable. In that moment, however, she just wanted to bury her head in the crook of her neck and hide.

“What’s the matter?” Buffy asked. There was silence. Faith just shook her head. “Is it Grammy?” Buffy gasped. A look of horror crossed her face and Faith grabbed her hands to calm her down.

“No, nothing’s wrong with Grammy. Just a rough day, no one’s dead.” She reassured her. Well technically _she_ was dead whenever it was that she went home but she wasn’t sure how to communicate that.

“Are you sure, you’re alright?” Buffy asked. _God,_ she’d forgotten how much she loved the sound of her voice. She’d forgotten how good she smelt too. Well, more like she’d opted to push it out of her active memory. It was all this that had got her in this mess in the first place. Why couldn’t she have just been straight? Then she would be okay at home, then she and Buffy would still be close (she bet). Maybe she’d even be a cheerleader with a tiny skirt watching all the other girls with their tiny ski- no. That lasted no more than two seconds. Faith could never be straight.

Buffy was murmuring nice things to her and welcomed her into her arms. Faith accepted and they curled up on the sofa together. If only she could lean up and kiss her. It was fortunate she couldn’t because she smelt like booze. Buffy hated the smell of alcohol but she was stomaching it now for Faith.

The boys were gone a long time. Faith fell asleep before they came back in the room, so she couldn’t be exactly sure _how_ long. Then walked back in and announced they were going out. Spike had acquired shoes and a grey shirt in place of his Coke stained white one he’d been wearing earlier.

Faith was to stay with Buffy. They didn’t provide answers as to where they were going and left Buffy and Faith staring in confusion at the retreating backs of the boys as they left.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen them go off together.” Buffy frowned suspiciously.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen them _talk._ ” Faith added. “Argue, sure, a bit of banter with nasty intent, that too… but they were having a _conversation_ in there, B.”

“If I wasn’t so tired I’d _totally_ follow them to find out where they’re going.” Buffy assured herself.

“Yeah, me too… only replace _tired_ with drunk.” Faith giggled and fell against the cushions.

“Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong now?” Buffy asked sincerely.

Faith looked away and crossed her arms in defence.

“Faith, you’re my best friend. I know that we’ve been… drifting,” she stopped and stared at her hands for a moment. “But I can’t stand this distance between us. I miss you _._ ” She added that last one with a little smirk though Faith didn’t know why. “I hate this. Not even six months ago we would tell each other everything. Why’s now different?” Buffy smiled at her and Faith’s resolve cracked.

“If I tell you what’s wrong do you promise we’ll still be friends?”

“Faith, unless you like _killed a guy_ I don’t think there’s anything you could tell me that would change my opinion of you. Maybe not even then.” Buffy reassured.

Faith nodded. She confessed everything. Well, almost everything. She told her that her ex girlfriend was out to ruin her life and that when she got home she may be given her marching orders. By extension she told her she was gay. She conveniently left out the parts about being in love with her. That shit could just manifest itself deep inside her as a problem for her future therapist to deal with. No big.

“Oh my God, Faith.” Buffy gasped. She didn’t shy away though. She held her hand and stayed strong. “I don’t know what to say. I mean I thought maybe you were… but I didn’t know about Kennedy. God, what a psycho _bitch_.”

Faith knew she was upset. Upset and annoyed that she’d been pushed out for too long.

“Yeah, well Spike did say within ten minutes of meeting her that it was a bad idea. Maybe that made me want her more. To prove him wrong. I wanted to think that someone didn’t have to be a total nut job to want to go out with me.”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Buffy rolled her eyes. “Plenty of sane people want to be with you.” She sighed. “The trouble is, will they be sane once they get to know you?” she laughed and Faith shoved her back on the sofa in a tackle. She managed to slip her hands into her arm pits to tickle her and she had her screaming instantly.

Faith felt that familiar wave of nauseating adoration as she pinned Buffy down and watched her writhe beneath her. Buffy threw her head back, exposing her neck and throat. She’d like to kiss her there. She’d thought about it a lot. She still thought a lot about Buffy.

Faith sighed and rolled off her. She caught eye contact with Buffy for a second and knew she’d figured it out. It wasn’t hard to when you’re given the context of the situation. A lot of straight girls have relationships like they did. Under the assumption Faith was straight, Buffy must have never thought about it, now she knew she was a lesbian, well…

Buffy let out a little wide eyed “oh.”

There it was, the moment that would change everything between them. She’d kept her distance since it had got too bad. She’d stuck with Spike, channelled her affections to Kennedy, had tried to switch her brain to a different frequency, whatever, but it didn’t help. Now Buffy knew. She didn’t have to tell her. It was obvious.

“What?” Faith pretended to be oblivious regardless of the hole she’d found herself in. All she did was sigh.

“Nothing.” Buffy shook her head. Good, she was embarrassed to say it. Hopefully it would now be buried in Buffy’s brain. Under all the stuff she doesn’t like to think about like her dad abandoning her and the time her period started in middle school while she was wearing a white skirt. That’s where Faith belonged and all knowledge of her creepy crush. She prayed to whatever god that was listening that Buffy would just pretend that moment hadn’t happened.

She got a call from her mom at around half past six and the boys weren’t back yet.

“Faith, your Grammy said to call and say your dinner’ll be ready in half hour.” She heard her mom’s usual monotonous tone through the speaker.

“Uh, okay?” she responded, unsure of everything in the entire universe (as per).

“Yeah, so head home now, okay? See you in a few.” And she hung up.

“She sounded… normal.” Faith said thoughtfully. “Maybe Kennedy chickened out. Maybe this was just a trick.” She lit up at the prospect.

“Or a warning.” Buffy said with a tone that did not instil confidence in Faith.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t do it again, then.” She reasoned. Yeah, she’d beat the shit out of her if she tried anything. She didn’t care about the consequences just as long as Kennedy kept her mouth shut.

She gathered her stuff and started to walk home. Buffy had been reluctant to let her go but Faith had insisted it would be fine. She’d watched her go from the front door following a tentative hug goodbye.

Faith knew Buffy was worried, hell, _she_ was worried. It was alright though, her mom didn’t know. When she got home her mom waved at her from behind her magazine.

“Hey, sweetie, how was your day?”

“Good.” She answered.

“Spike alright?” she asked before licking her thumb to turn the page.

“Uh-huh.”

“Good.” Her mom finished their exchange (a mockery of a normal mother-daughter conversation) and Faith left to walk on through into the kitchen.

She greeted her Grammy with the kiss on the cheek and Grammy continued to stir the pot.

They sat through a quiet dinner. Her dad had disappeared so it was _all girls together,_ as Grammy put it.

When the table was cleared, her mom had gone upstairs, and Faith was cleaning the dishes. Grammy approached her.

“I had a visitor today.” She said from behind. “Your friend from school.”

Faith froze. _Oh, fuck! Kennedy had got to Grammy._

“She gave me this.” Grammy continued.

Faith turned to see an A4 size black folder in Grammy’s hand.

“Care to explain?”

“Uh…” Faith shook her head. She didn’t know what to say.

“You’re being blackmailed, Faithy.” Grammy stated. “By an over dramatic amateur, admittedly, but it's blackmail all the same. Congratulations, I didn’t get my first blackmailing until I was twenty-three.”

Faith looked to her in surprise. She wasn’t mad. She hadn’t expected Grammy to be mad. Of all the people in the world she trusted Grammy to not care but she still felt awkward about her knowing.

“You know what it’s about?” she asked softly. Faith nodded. “Right, okay.” Grammy sighed. “Well you don’t have to worry about it now. I told her I’ll be informing the school of what she tried to do, and if she persists, _the police._ ”

Faith gasped. “Grammy!”

She didn’t honestly think the police would take something like that seriously but people had been done for less.

Grammy handed her the folder and told her to shred what was inside it. She didn’t want it lying around the house. Faith obliged and went upstairs.

Spike didn’t have a lot to say for himself when she asked him where he and Angel sloped off to. Faith assumed whatever it was it was dodgy. For two rich kids (well a rich kid and his fortunate by unfortunate circumstance step-brother) they sure did get up to some shit. Faith thought rich kids were meant to be well behaved. They’re not. They just get away with more.

**Part Five**

Despite their chat, Faith didn’t see Buffy for a while. Buffy made a point of messaging her every day, though. She always responded. Faith wasn’t _trying_ to be a dick, she just needed space. She didn’t think she was ever going to _stop_ needing space as it happened. The second she saw her again it all came rushing back. _Urgh._

About two weeks into this limbo she'd created she had this conversation with Buffy:

**Buffy Summers: I broke up with Angel :/ (20:37)**

Faith hadn’t replied immediately. She didn’t know what to say. Part of her was elated but the realist part of her knew it didn’t change anything.

**Faith Lehane: Oh... crap, man… y? are you okay? (20:48)**

**Buffy Summers: Yeah, I broke up with him… It wasn’t right anymore. (20:51)**

**Faith Lehane: Well if it wasn’t right then… (20:52)**

**Buffy Summers: Hang out with me tomorrow? (20:52)**

**Faith Lehane: Yh sure, what time? (20:54)**

They went to the movies. It was nice. It felt like it had before they’d started to drift. They’d shared popcorn and a large soda. Buffy had whispered in her ear about half an hour in that she needed to pee. Faith had rolled her eyes and told her to “just go.” Buffy had a little moral panic over whether to leave or stick it out until Faith practically shoved her out her seat, assuring her she’d keep their seats safe.

Afterwards they went to McDonalds like when they were kids. Faith hadn’t seen Buffy eat McDonalds since she became a cheerleader. It was nice to fall back into old habits. Especially the ones that involved Buffy linking their arms together, sitting close by each other so their legs brushed and casual touches that made Faith’s heart burst. Faith wasn’t sure if Buffy was aware of what she was doing. She wondered if this was Buffy trying to tell her that she was okay with her being gay. That she didn’t feel uncomfortable with it. That was the only way Faith could read it without giving herself false hope. Whatever it was, she surrendered herself to it and fell back into Buffy’s patterns.

It didn’t change anything though. Later that night she had to control the impulse to try and pummel in the bathroom tiles as she showered. _It didn’t mean anything,_ she chanted in her head. _Buffy was just being your friend. She wouldn’t think of it like that. You’re being ridiculous. She was just acting like any normal friend would._

They were talking a few days later online. She was staring at the screen, trying to work out what to write back to her when she just thought _fuck it._ She deleted whatever was there before and wrote _“off to the gym… catch u later xx”_ and logged off. It wasn’t a lie. She _was_ going to the gym. She got together her gear and headed down. She didn’t bother messaging Spike who’d worked himself to a weird sleep schedule to sync up with Drusilla. Again she wondered, _why?_

She sort of avoided the place these days out of fear that Kennedy would be lurking somewhere spying. She’d never noticed her before they’d started dating and she’d been there watching. Who’s to say she wasn’t still doing it? She knew she couldn’t stay away when she paid for her membership. She liked the gym.  It got her out of the house. Grammy spent her days at the centre and she didn’t see Buffy anymore… so what was there to do?

She’d been in there about half an hour when Buffy showed up in her little pink short shorts and tight grey T.

“What’re you doing here?” she dropped her arms from where they’d been pummelling the punch bag.

“Same thing as you.” Buffy’s perky answer came and Faith scoffed.

“You don’t come here.” She pointed out.

“I got an afternoon pass!” Buffy bit her lip. “Don’t you want me here?”

“Sure, just a little warning would be nice, B.” Faith thought about how sweaty she looked just then and cringed. Oh, well. Buffy had seen her hot and bothered before.

“I was thinking we could spar?” She offered.

“Since when do you box?” Faith looked at her sceptically.

“What would you know?” she quipped. “I’m quite good, actually.”

“Okay, whatever, I’ll go get my mouth guard.”

She pulled off her gloves leaving just her hand wraps to rummage through her bag to find the tiny black and green rubber piece. She looked up to see Buffy putting on some pink gloves.

“I don’t have a mouth guard.” She admitted.

“Oh, well I won’t wear mine either then.” Faith shrugged and dropped her bag. They wouldn’t be going for faces anyway and they didn’t have full head gear. She wasn’t going to be slobbering everywhere if Buffy wasn’t.

Buffy told her she’d warmed up already so they touched gloves and started. At first Buffy was a little hesitant but when she loosened up and got into it she was surprisingly good.

“When the Hell did you get good at this?”

“Aerobic boxing!” Buffy responded, her peppy self coming to the forefront. Faith couldn’t help but relax now she’d got over her sudden appearance.

“Oh, is that right?” Faith smirked and ducked when Buffy aimed a punch to the side of her head. Instead of coming straight back up, Faith leant forward and scooped Buffy up over her shoulder.

“FAITH!” she screeched. “Oh my God!” She was laughing as Faith began to spin her around. “Why are you so strong?”

Faith chuckled and let her back down again. A red faced Buffy touched her feet to the ground and her body weight fell against her slightly as she found herself dizzy. Buffy’s hands found perch on Faith’s shoulders, resting on the damp straps of her vest and touching her bare skin slightly. Faith’s breath hitched at the contact.

There was a moment where Faith thought she was going mad when she thought she saw Buffy looking at her lips. Those hazel eyes were flickering between her eyes and her mouth and Faith’s throat tightened. No, she wasn’t mad.

Buffy’s giggling had ceased and that little half smile had fallen and now there was a look of determination on her face. She strengthened her grip on Faith’s shoulders and pulled her closer and the next thing Faith knew was the feel of Buffy’s lips.

_Fuck._

Faith got lost in the moment and pulled her closer. Her arms that had just been hanging there before now came up to wrap themselves around Buffy’s waist. Buffy’s arms slipped around her neck and she imagined she was up on tip toes to kiss her. Faith felt her gloved hands rest on her shoulder. She sort of forgot where they were until she heard some of the guys she hung out with cat calling them from the benches.

They pulled apart and Faith just stood there in shock. Buffy’s reaction was to giggle. When she saw Faith’s face she sobered up.

“Was that okay?” she asked, audibly unsure.

Faith nodded, unsure of how to make words. There was a moment where they didn’t speak, but their heavy breathing dominated her ears. She made a decision. Faith swooped in and captured Buffy’s lips in another sweet kiss. She could do it all day, if she was honest. She wanted so much to take her somewhere private, but this would have to do.

There was a sensation of a complete detachment with reality as she kissed Buffy. She was in complete disbelief over it. Did this mean Buffy felt the same way? By the way she was kissing back she was gonna go with yes. _Buffy, Buffy, Buffy._

“Okay, I’m confused.” Faith said, finally breaking away. She hated to do it but this was just too impossible.

“About what?”

“You know what, Buffy. What is going on?”

“We were kissing.” Buffy said. Faith could tell she knew what she was really asking. Buffy looked down guiltily. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Faith’s heart sank.

“It’s just that… I thought. Well… the thing is…” she was nibbling away and that bottom lip. Faith thought about pulling it free so she’d stop.

“Buffy?” Faith felt helpless. Her gut was twisted in knots over this. Couldn’t Buffy see that the suspense was killing her?

Buffy looked around her with distaste.

“Can we go somewhere else?”

Faith looked over to see that the guys were now watching them with great interest. Faith felt like an actor in a soap opera.

“Sure, we can go sit outside.”

They were silent until they sat on the bench.

“Do you like me?” Faith asked.

Buffy smiled.

“Yeah… more than I’d have liked to admit until… well, on the sofa at Angel’s? I sort of had an epiphany like I couldn’t ignore it anymore.”

Faith cringed at the mention of Angel and _that_ day.

“It was something I hadn’t wanted to think about until I had to. I’m sorry if I’m not making much sense, I’m not very good at this.”

“It’s alright.” Faith practically whispered. It wasn’t alright, not really. Her whole world was being tested, ripped apart and glued back into a strange shape. Her chest was tight and her stomach felt like it had just been struck with a cannon ball. But then Buffy took her hand and then maybe it was closer to alright than it had been a moment before.

**Part Six**

She felt weird. Well, Faith always felt weird, but today especially. It had been eighteen hours since she and Buffy had locked lips in the middle of a sweaty second rate gym. It had been fifteen since they’d parted ways at her front door after a goodbye kiss around the corner. Buffy’s mom was around, she’d asked her in for a snack but Faith had shaken her head. She needed to go shower. She really, really did. Her B.O was starting to set in and no one needed to get a whiff of that.

She’d gone home and made a beeline for the bathroom before Grammy served up dinner. The whole thing felt surreal as she stood there under the hot water, _had that just happened?_ She caught herself smirking as she told herself it had. It definitely had.

But now? Now it was eighteen hours later and she was trying to decide what to wear to go meet her. Clothing wasn’t normally a problem for Faith, especially to see Buffy, but now they were a thing and she didn’t want to look like ass. She and Buffy had messaged all night and she said there was something she wanted to tell her today. The rational side of Faith’s head told her whatever it was it couldn’t be _bad_ or bad enough to ruin things. The paranoid, insecure side was telling her things she didn’t want to hear. It was throwing suggestions around including scenarios where Faith would show up to meet Buffy at the park and she’d be met with a hundred people and a camera who all showed up to laugh at her while Buffy tells her it was all one massive joke. Yes, her head went there a lot. Unfortunately for Faith, this was the dominant part of her head a lot of the time.

She went for a black vest and jeans and threw a shirt over it and left it open. Good? She guessed it would have to do because she was severely lacking in the clothes department.

Her phone buzzed.

 _“I’m leaving now xx”_ B’d wrote. _Oh, fuck._ Faith didn’t have time to get hung up on her appearance.

“Five by five.” She assured herself, taking one last look and started jogging to the door.

When she made it to the park Buffy was sat in their spot perched on the table, feet resting on the bench alone. Faith sighed with relief, so far so good. _God,_ she was beautiful.

Her face lit up when she saw her. She was a vision of gold hair in the sunlight with a little pink sun dress. She took Faith by surprise by grabbing her hand as she got near and pulled her towards her. Faith’s heart skipped in expectation of Buffy’s lips touching hers. The sensation was addictive. She could just kiss Buffy for eighty years and not care. _Buffy._

“Yeah?”

 _Oh,_ she hadn’t realised she’d said that out loud.

“Hi.” Faith improvised.

“Hi,” Buffy said back with a smile.

“So what was this thing you wanted to tell me in person?” Faith stepped back, feeling much more confident in her position than she had an hour ago.

“Right, okay, the thing.” Buffy bit her lip. “So, the thing is…. I have a thing.” She started rambling and Faith frowned. “The thing is a good thing… at least I _think_ it is a good thing?”

“Come on, B. What is the thing?” Faith pushed. “I’m a big girl, I can take it.”

Buffy let out an uncomfortable laugh. Faith instinctually took her hand.

“I love you.” She said after a moment of silence.

Faith had to take a double check. She’d said Faith’s _dream_ thing. That was the thing Faith had been pleading with baby Jesus to let her hear all morning. This was the _ultimate thing._ Faith hadn’t quite expected _that_ to be the thing!

“Uh, Faith?” Buffy asked.

Faith snapped back to reality and squeezed Buffy’s hand. She realised that she was shit with words and that she hadn’t thought this far ahead.

“Was the thing okay?” _Ah!_ She’d made Buffy unsure. _Shit._

Awkward Faith didn’t know what to do so she nodded enthusiastically.

“Perfect.” There was a pause. “I love you too, B.” She let out a shaky breath.

“Good.” Buffy confirmed.

“Awesome.” Faith grinned.

“Amazing.”

“Five by five.”

“Faith?” Buffy pouted. “Kiss me?”

“Sure, why not?” Faith joked. She felt Buffy swat her shoulder lightly as she leant in.

The kiss was warm, sweet and _passionate._ The little moaning sounds Buffy made drowned her in amongst her scent of strawberry shampoo and perfume. Once again Faith almost forgot where she was and when she pulled back and opened her eyes she experienced a jolt in her chest as she realised they were in the middle of a public space.

Buffy smiled.

“Wanna go back to mine for lunch?” she suggested.

“Sure.” Faith agreed, thankful to be going home with Buffy.

**Part Seven**

_“I am in hell.”_

“Gee, Spike, you wasted your one call to tell me that _again?_ ” Faith smirked. She took a golden strand of hair from her lap and started wrapping it around her finger. Buffy looked up from where she was reading and smiled.

_“I have to piss in a hole, Faith. You’re not taking this seriously.”_

If this wasn’t so funny, she would have hung up the phone by then. See, Spike had been sent to a _special camp_ with Liam for two weeks to _bond._ Liam was going away to college that year so their parents had deemed it necessary that they “heal the rift between them.” That and they wanted to Cuba for a fortnight and didn’t want to leave them in the house alone.

Spike had found himself in a place with no internet, no cell phones (therefore _no Dru_ ), questionable sanitation options, only one phone call bi-weekly that cost per minute and _Angel._

 _“I think I’m cracking up.”_ She heard him whimper on the phone.

Faith rolled her eyes and with a move so fast Buffy had snatched the phone.

“Is Spikey-wikey feeling not so good today?” she teased.

 _“Buffy, put Faith back on, I only have five more minutes!”_ Faith could hear him through the receiver.

“No, and good! I’ll make this fast. Listen, Spike; you’re being a moron.”

 _Good start,_ Faith thought.

“You’re wasting valuable time with Angel before he moves God knows how many thousands of miles away and for what?” She quipped. “He wants to be your friend. You’re angry at him over something he doesn’t even understand. He’s being an ass _because_ he doesn’t understand and quite frankly _I don’t care._ I had to listen to _his_ side of the drama when we were dating and now have to deal with _yours_.”

Faith reclined against the headboard listening to the exchange.

“At the end of the day, neither of you has done anything _wrong_ besides whatever hostile boy act you’re putting on now. Go back to your room, maybe even take him a soda, make nice. Life’s too short to be horrible to people for no good reason.” Buffy paused then waiting for Spike to say something.

_“Yeah but-“_

Then the phone cut out.

“I guess he run out of minutes.” Faith ruled and took the phone out of Buffy’s hand where it remained at her ear. “Thank God.”

“Was I too harsh?” Buffy pulled a face.

“No, that was actually a nicer version of what I’ve been dying to tell him for the last three days.” Faith admitted. “Come here.”

Buffy scrambled up to rest her head on Faith’s shoulder.

“You did really good, I’m proud.” Faith told her with a little smirk.

Faith sighed as she felt Buffy snuggle into her side. Yeah, she was perfect.

 


	3. Faith the (kind of) Adult

**Part One of One (or in other words: The Epilogue)**

“Where do you want this?” Faith strained. She was holding a fuck off huge sofa, tailed by Xander and Buffy was always so picky about where things went.

“Uhhh,” Buffy pondered looking around the bare apartment on the fourth floor.

“Anytime would be a good time, Buff.” Xander said through gritted teeth.

“So much for the macho carpenter guy.” Faith sneered in his direction.

“I’m gonna pretend that’s just the pain talking.”

“Nope.” Faith countered and bounced the sofa with her hands defiantly.

“Guys!” Buffy protested. “Stop. Now put it here. I want it opposite the window.”

They obliged and crashed out on it.

“Have to hand it to you, Buffy, this place is pretty nice.”

“Ah-hem.” Faith coughed.

“Yeah, you too.” He teased.

“And we’re right down the hall!” A peppy brunette announced as she waltzed in. “You left the front door open so I just thought-”

“Anya!” Buffy beamed and hugged the woman.

Faith sighed. Anya was Xander’s fiancé and they didn’t exactly get along one hundred percent of the time… maybe something like seventy? Seventy-five percent?

“I like the wallpaper, Buffy. It’s very cost efficient.”

_Y’know what? Maybe it is more sixty-five._

“Thanks, Anya.” Buffy said stiffly and Anya smiled back.

Xander mouthed “I’m sorry” to Faith who shook her head.

“Hey, guys? You here?” a voice called through.

“In here, Will.” Buffy called through. “And could you shut the door?”

They heard the front door click shut and Willow and Tara walked through into the living room.

“Hi,” Tara waved. Faith cracked a smile for her.

Tara was Willow's girlfriend and probably Faith's favourite member of their group ( _other than Buffy_ , she thought. She didn't want to make Buffy mad, just in case she could read minds). They were an unlikely pair with Faith being outspoken and kind of wild and Tara being kind of quiet around people she didn't know and shy. Faith had quickly discovered, though, that once you got past the awkward early phases of friendship with Tara she was a hoot. She was funny and smart and Faith was glad to count her as a friend.

“So Buffy, what’re you gonna do with that extra room?” Willow asked.

“Nursery?” Anya offered.

“Not likely.” Buffy muttered. “We were thinking training room! I don’t think it’s big enough to swing a cat… or a leg. But it’s better than nothing.”

“Yeah, we’re putting a bag and a bench in… not much else we’ll need on a daily.” Faith added.

“I guess not now that Faith’s got her own gym.” Tara commented. Faith smiled proudly. She liked how Tara shone light on her achievements. She caught sight of Buffy’s admiration she was sending her way and grinned.

That last year had been a ride with Faith getting the loan to start her own business and getting the money together to move out of Buffy’s mom’s. They’d moved in there right after high school when Buffy had gone to UC Sunnydale and Faith had started training to be a personal trainer. Her home life with her mom had become unbearable after she found out about her and Buffy. It was the best option for all involved.

Her relationship with her mom was kind of broken after that, not that there was much of it anyway. Grammy still around though, still loved her unconditionally, still made her a cake on birthdays. All seven of them since she’d moved out.

It was weird to think of how far they’d all come since high school and they were all still together. Well, sort of. Spike had gone back to England first chance he got and he and Dru had been married going on four years, kid on the way terrifyingly enough. Dawnie was now at college, too. That was two down.

Looking around though, she had it pretty good. The woman by her side was the love of her life, they were doing good for money, her friends were all happy; it was great _._ She had a family. She only had one more thing left to do.

The gang cleared out a few hours later after helping her and Buffy sort through some of their shit. They’d manage the rest in the morning. For now, Buffy and Faith sat on the sofa in their new apartment the radio buzzing in the background. Their TV wasn’t set up yet, much to Faith’s dismay. She liked it like this though: just her and Buffy. It made a change from living with Mrs Summers.

She supposed this was the best time to do it. She hadn’t been planning some big occasion; she was maybe a little too insecure for that. Regardless of that, there was now a ring in her pocket that she was going to present her girlfriend with any minute. The take out they’d ordered in for lunch was now rolling around her belly like some kind of fatty Lochness monster with a grudge. Could she do this? Maybe she could just put it off… _no, no, no._ Faith had to do this. She’d promised herself.

“B,” she started. “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

She leant over and clicked off the radio. _Argh, she wanted to throw up_

“Yeah?” she could hear the heavy breath that Buffy let out and it fully hit her how real this was.

“So, here’s the thing…” Faith started.

Buffy tilted her head and made a _“mmmm”_ sound to show she was listening.

“So, with the new apartment… and everything coming together I was, uh, wondering if you would like to…” she paused for a second and pulled the little box out of her pocket. Before she could continue she was interrupted by an outburst from Buffy.

“No way!” she said. Faith froze up wondering whether this was the wrong thing to do. She was grinning though. She looked excited... and kind of wild. “Wait there!” Buffy ordered and jumped off the sofa.

She could hear Buffy scrambling about in another room and she had no choice but to sit and wait patiently until she returned. She sat there kind of exasperated, really. Only Buffy would pull this in the middle of a proposal, honestly.

She relaxed, however, when she saw Buffy return with a grin on her face and her hands behind her back. She bounded back to the sofa and resumed her previous position next to Faith. She could tell she was trying to regulate her breathing from the exertion and act as though she’d never left.

“I wanted to go first.” She pulled out another little box from behind her back with a pout. It didn’t last long though, because she soon cracked and burst into a teary smile.

“B…” Faith said in awe. She couldn’t help it. She cracked too. Her eyes went all blurry and had it been anyone else she might have been embarrassed. But this was Buffy. She didn’t have to worry about all that with her.

They kind of forgot the point of the conversation as they leant in and shared a kiss. B let out a giggle and pulled back and opened the box for Faith to see. Faith smiled and did the same.

Neither of them planned on giving a speech. They told the other every day how much they meant and how much they loved them. Saying all that now wouldn’t mean anything. All Faith said was:

“You wanna be my wife then?”

Buffy nodded enthusiastically and Faith slid the delicate wring on her finger.

“Do you wanna be _my_ wife?” Buffy echoed and Faith nodded. Buffy took the ring and slid it up Faith’s finger. She stared at it a while, honestly in shock over how things had played out.

“Love you, B.” Faith told her as she wrapped her arms around her fiancé.

“I love you too… _F._ ” Buffy smirked. She knew Faith hated it when she did that! Faith went on the attack and went straight for Buffy’s armpits. She wailed through her laughter barely able to beg her to stop.

To ward her off, Buffy swept in and caught Faith in a kiss, taking her by surprise. This gave Buffy enough time to get in to tickle Faith’s sides. Undeterred, Faith made a comeback and had Buffy pinned on her back within the minute.

“I yield!” Buffy pronounced as the tickling became too much.

“Damn right.” Faith commented and released her. She kissed her firmly on the mouth. “I love you, B.”

“Love you more, _F_ _!_ "

"Oh for the _love of God!_ I want a divorce." 

Buffy squealed and fled the sofa, Faith hot on her heels.

**THE END**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was it, the final installment. I hope you have enjoyed reading this story! Feedback is much appreciated. (I think the ending is kind of cheesy but shhh! isn't it kind of a HS/AU trope to have an ending like this?)


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